he dying
man and water poured down its tail into his mouth. The practice of
letting loose a male calf is now declining, as these animals are a
great nuisance to the crops, and cultivators put them in the pound. The
calf is therefore also presented to a Brahman. It is believed that the
_shraddh_ ceremony is necessary to unite the dead man's spirit with
the Pitris or ancestors, and without this it wanders homeless. Some
think that the ancestors dwell on the under or dark side of the
moon. Those descendants who can offer the _pindas_ or funeral cakes
to the same ancestor are called Sapindas or relatives, and the man
who fills the office of chief mourner thereby becomes the dead man's
heir. Persons who have died a violent death or have been executed are
not entitled to the ordinary funeral oblations, and cannot at once be
united with the ancestors. But one year after the death an effigy of
the deceased person is made in _kusha_ grass and burnt, with all the
ordinary funeral rites, and offerings are made to his spirit as if
he had died on this occasion. If the death was caused by snake-bite
a gold snake is made and presented to a Brahman before this ceremony
is begun. This is held to be the proper funeral ceremony which unites
his spirit with the ancestors. Formerly in Madras if a man died during
the last five days of the waning of the moon it was considered very
unlucky. In order to escape evil effects to the relatives a special
opening was made in the wall of the house, through which the body
was carried, and the house itself was afterwards abandoned for three
to six months. [412] A similar superstition prevails in the Central
Provinces about a man dying in the Mul Nakshatra or lunar asterism,
which is perhaps the same or some similar period. In this case it is
thought that the deaths of four other members of the household are
portended, and to avert this four human figures are made of flour or
grass and burnt with the corpse. According to the Abbe Dubois if a
man died on a Saturday it was thought that another death would occur
in the family, and to avert this a living animal, such as a ram,
goat or fowl, was offered with the corpse. [413]

15. Religion.

The religion of the Brahmans is Hinduism, of which they are the
priests and exponents. Formerly the Brahman considered himself as
a part of Brahma, and hence a god. This belief has decayed, but the
gods are still held to reside in the body; Siva in the crown of th